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Josef Malnik

1903
—Lithuania

Raised in a Jewish family, Josef lived with his wife, Feiga, in Kovno, a cosmopolitan city that was picturesquely situated at the juncture of two rivers and was known as the "Little Paris." Josef was a barber, his wife was a beautician, and together they ran a shop in downtown Kovno.

1933-39: Every day Feiga and I walk to our shop which is not far from our house. It's hard work being a barber--I'm on my feet most of the day, seven days a week including a couple of hours on Sunday. I have some interesting customers, though, such as the opera star, Kypris Petraskaus. All the work will seem worth it if I can help my son, Abe, have a better life, as a doctor or a lawyer. He's a good boy and sometimes helps us out at the shop.

1940-44: The Germans have occupiedKovno. They've forced all the Jews to wear the Star of David and to relocate to a fenced-in ghetto. Every day the guards take people away, never to return. This morning--a cold, drizzly autumn day--everyone in the ghetto has to report to Democracy Plaza for an inspection. We have to comply or risk being killed. Where will they take us? What will happen to us? We march to the Plaza over streets lightly dusted with snow--Feiga, Abe and I, Feiga's sister, Yenta, and their 66-year-old mother.

That October 26, 1941, Lithuanian guards under German orders killed 10,000 Jews. Josef escaped. In 1944 he was deported to five concentration camps. He was liberated in 1945.